Maine Antlerless Deer Permit System Sees High Demand

On Tuesday, October 11, MDIFW, along with InforME, the state’s Ecommerce internet gateway, launched the antlerless deer permit webpage providing an opportunity for thousands of hopeful hunters to purchase an antlerless deer permit.

At the time the site went live at 11:00 AM, there were approximately 12,000 people immediately entering the queue. The page saw an inflow rate of up to 600 users per minute! Individuals who visited the page prior the launch at 11:00 AM were put into a virtual waiting room, which helped manage the traffic to the site and prevent it from crashing. The waiting room did not offer any advantage to those who were active on the site prior the launch at 11:00 AM. Those who were in the waiting room or were accessing the site at the time it was launched were given a random number and entered into the queue to wait for their turn to purchase a permit.

There were over 20,000 users in the queue for most of the afternoon, with over 70 customers per minute purchasing their permits. Those who were waiting in the queue were able to leave the page and come back to it without losing their place in the queue and once their it was their turn they had 30 minutes to enter the queue to begin their transaction. By 4:00 PM everyone in the queue had been moved through to the purchase site and over 16,000 permits were purchased.

At this time, over 20,000 permits have been sold through the online purchasing site. Hunters can now access the site with no wait times and permits remain available for purchase times in districts 22, 23, 24, 25 and 29.

If there are antlerless deer permits remaining after the start of the firearms season, hunters may purchase one additional permit. Hunters will be notified of the opportunity on the MDIFW website in early November.

The Department is always striving to improve processes and is reviewing the system to improve the customer experience for 2023.